You have been associated with the conservation of the Puri Jagannath temple for the past 24 years. What is the condition of Jagmohan, the prayer hall adjacent to the temple’s main sanctum sanctorum?

It will not be appropriate for a person who continues to be associated with the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to give his opinion at a time when a high-level committee, under the leadership of the Union culture secretary and the ASI’s director-general, is visiting the state. We have to wait till the chief secretary holds a meeting with all officials concerned. I have no idea whether I will be part of that meeting. But, I am sure people will speak about various schemes, which are now available for the conservation and protection of the Jagmohan. Therefore, it would not be appropriate for me to 
comment on the issue at this moment.

What is your plan to save Jagmohan? 

There are cracks in the beams and columns of Jagmohan. According to our proposal, there will be a frame to support the beams to relieve the load on the columns. The columns can then be conserved to minimise the danger. The beams will only transfer the load. But, the burden of carrying the load rests with the columns. 
So, our first priority is to the relieve the load on the columns by supporting the beams through independent steel frames, which, we hope, will be effective. We have made this proposal. There are many learned persons who have more knowledge about advanced technology and can suggest or offer some alternatives. But, the advisory committee members of the advisory committee have put their heads together and come out with this alternative. 

Don’t you feel that more discussion on the subject will only delay the conservation process of Jagmohan?

I was a member of the advisory committee, which only has an advisory role. There are two types of people associated with the administration — one are line officers. In this case, they are ASI officials, who will execute the plans. We are staff officers whose only role is advisory. The line officers are free not to accept the advice of staff officers.

You are the working chairman of a committee, which consists of eminent engineers. You must feel pained that the committee’s proposal for saving Jagmohan is not being given due recognition. 

As disciplined officers, we will do our duty. I believe in the words of former Prime Minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri, who had said that officers should take “constitutional interest” in their jobs. They should not feel aggrieved if their proposals are not accepted. Everybody is trying to do his best at his level. I am sure we cannot dictate others.

You must be disheartened that your proposal to save Jagmohan was not given due recognition. A debate has also begun on the issue.

I am purely a professional. I am doing my duty. During my long career as an engineer, I had given a lot of proposals, many of which were rejected. The government is the approving authority and the right authority to take a call on this issue. In this case, the approving authority is the ASI and they will take a call.

Being the working chairman of the technical committee, you should have asked on which ground they rejected the proposals. 

A.P. Gupta is the president of the committee, and he is more eminent than anyone else. I am only working as the acting chairman. You must have heard petroleum and natural gas minister Dharmendra Pradhan saying clearly that the proposals have not yet been rejected and they are under active consideration. Their status will be known in due time. I am preparing a draft report to submit to them... if I am invited to that meeting.

Perhaps the ASI does not agree with your point of view as most of the advisory committee members are from engineering backgrounds and not from archaeology.

That is definitely a point of view. The ASI has been accepting our views for the past 24 years. But, the remedial measures should be taken immediately. We have no objection.

Everyone is worried that the Jagannath temple may go the Sun Temple way. 

I have said that we definitely don’t want Jagmohan to go the Konark way. When erstwhile British officers had entered the Sun Temple in 1903 for renovation, there was only Jagmohan (the temple had already gone). They saw the four central columns had already collapsed — the ceiling supported by the columns had crashed and the top of the Konark temple inside was visible. Stones were falling frequently from the ceiling.Even Bishan Swraup (executive engineer, who had supervised the repairs between 1901 and 1904) wrote he could have perished when a stone slab fell near him when he was supervising the work. I am sure that people who were working there must have been scared. Similar occurrences have taken place at Sri Gundicha Mandir in Puri where Lord Jagannath spends nine days a year. That is a pidha deula (It refers to the square building with a pyramid-shaped roof, like the vimana) like the Jagannath temple, the Sun Temple at Konark and the Lingaraj Temple in Bhubaneswar. All these temples have shown signs of distress.

As a devout, I am a passionate lover of the Jagannath culture...I thought it would be proper to bring it to the notice of the authority. If no urgent action is taken, it may go the Konark way. It has been filled up with sand. I do not want Jagmohan to be filled with sand. I think it is the right time to take up the issue and the temple administration should decide accordingly.

Before last year’s Nabakalebar festival, you should have raised the issue when the temple was in focus all over the world. Why did you resign from the advisory committee? 

To be truthful, if some action is not taken, it will be difficult for all the committee members, who are passionately associated with the temple to conserve the temple. I am 80 years old and have had a number of chances to serve the Lord. I should let others come in.

Was your resignation a ploy by the state government to pressurise the ASI?

I am not part of the state government. I am a retired government servant.

After you put in your papers, everyone got charged up. We have noticed that politics has already begun on this issue. 

We are not bothered about our proposals. We are worried about Jagmohan. The chief minister has already written a letter to the Prime Minister and discussed the temple affairs over phone. He has also visited the temple. The Prime Minister has already blessed the project and issued necessary instructions. At this point, I don’t see any politics involved... Everyone is worried about the temple’s safety.

Can the work be completed before Deva Snana Purnima (June 20)?

I cannot comment on that...the temple administration will have to deal with that. But, it will be good if adequate remedial action is taken, by whichever process, before the Snana Prunima. I will not feel sorry if any other method is taken for the temple’s conservation. But, so far, only impractical methods have been suggested.

There is a demand for you to re-consider of your resignation. 

When we face it we will decide.

Geologists believe that the temple is developing cracks because of a fault line that passes under it…

Actually, they must have spoken very sincerely and with knowledge. As I am not an expert on the subject, I will not comment on that.

What can we expect from the expert team’s visit? The technical committee had not even met once in the past 10 years… 

I will not be able to comment. Two committees have been formed for this purpose. The advisory committee at the local level will assist the technical committee in case there is a difficulty to analyse and take a decision. In fact, fundamental engineering of all structures are the same — whether it’s a thatched house or a temple or the Burj Khalifa (the world’s tallest structure in Dubai).

In 1992, a huge stone fell from the sanctum sanctorum. You were part of the technical committee which did repairs. What is the condition of the sanctum sanctorum?

The condition of the sanctum sanctorum is perfectly alright. We have put a steel frame, which is working fine. Biju babu had asked us to tell him how long the temple can stand. We were not able to give him a definite reply but we can vouch that it will remain standing for another 200 years. It is the same with Jagmohan.

Everything has a life span. Even a temple must have a life span… 

These are philosophical discussions. If the pyramids can stand for more than 3,000 years, why cannot our temples? But, proper conservation should be undertaken

TECHIE AT HEART

• Mitra hails from Puri town
• He passed his matriculation from Puri Zilla School and intermediate in science from Ravenshaw College and joined IIT Kharagpur
• He completed his BTech and MTech from there before starting his career as a junior engineer in the government. He retired as the works secretary
• Later, he joined his alma mater as a professor in the industrial engineering department

WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE BEEN IF NOT AN ENGINEER?

I only aimed to become an engineer. In our days, engineering was a craze and getting into IITs was a dream for many.